Jifunze Kiswahili

SWAHILI AUXILIARY VERBS

In Swahili two verbs are used as auxiliary verbs,namely,kuwa”,”to be”and kuisha,”to be completed “, This last verb is used as an auxiliary verb meaning”already “.

e.g.alikuwa akisoma tulipofika shuleni.                          He was reading when we arrived at school

     Sasa baba atakuwa amefika.                                      By now father will have arrived.

KUISHA

Wageni wamekwisha fika.                             The guests have already arrived.

Je,umekwisha ona Simba?                            Have you seen a lion?

Nimekwisha kukwambia,.                                I have already told you.

               THE EKA AND IKA TENSES

The eka and IKA tenses denote a state; something has been done to the subject but no agent or doer is expressed.Observe the following sentences and note the difference between the stative and the passive forms:

    Kisu kimevumjwa na mpishi,.        The knife has been broken by a cook(passive).

   Kisu kimevunjika.                              The knive has broken (stative)

Nguo imeraruliwa na mbwa.                 Her dress was torn by a dog (passive).

Children especially like this form because it does not implicate them.

  e.g. A child says: mama,kikombe kimevunjika,”mother,I have broken the cup”

It should not be concluded from the examples given above that all verbs ending in ka are stative.A few examples will show you that this is not the case.consider:

Kupika ,to cook.                 Kupika ndizi ,to cook bananas

Kuzika,to burry                   kuzika maiti,to bury a dead man

Kuandika,to write.               Kuandika barua,to write a letter

Kufunika, to cover.               Kufunika kitu,to cover up something

Kutandika, to set in order.    Kutandika kitanda, to make a bed

Kuweka,to put.                        Weka sahani mezani,put the plate on the table

We will continue with our topic next week.